“Was that boy going to ask you what I think he was?” Roger asked, twirling me out and then bringing me back in.
“Yes, I believe he was.”
“What a shame.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Well, I just don’t think I can allow that to happen.”
“You don’t have a choice in the matter. This is between me and Quinten, not anybody else. Your opinion doesn’t count.”
He chuckled. “That boy doesn’t actually believe that he can be all the man that you need…does he?”
“Quinten is a man. One of the best I’ve ever met,” I growled, trying to pull away from him. Ray’s warning was long forgotten. I couldn’t just stand there and listen to him badmouth my best friend and possible future mate.
“A blind human boy thinks he has what it takes to satisfy you?”
His words dripped over me like poison, making my skin crawl. I turned away so he wouldn’t see the look of pure disgust on my face. “We’re not talking about this, ever. My personal life is none of your business.”
“I’m making it my business.”
“What do you want from me?” I practically cried. “You don’t even know me. We’ve only met once before tonight. Besides, there are plenty of older, more experienced werewolves that would make better mates for you than I would. What is it about me that you’re so interested in?”
“Everything,” he whispered, pulling me as tightly to his chest as possible. “I’m not interested in older more experienced women. I know what I want, and I know just how to get it. And by the way, just because I didn’t show myself to you, doesn’t mean I haven’t been around.”
I didn’t like how that sounded. Is he saying that he’s been following me? I remembered the feeling of being watched in the woods with Ray and Ilene, and again at the park. Had he been there, stalking me? What was it about me that interested him so much?
His next sentence brought me back from my scared thoughts.
“If you say yes to his question, I’ll make sure that he and anyone else you care about dies a very slow, painful death.”
I looked up at him, hoping that he wasn’t serious. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me, love. I’m a man of great importance, and I’m used to getting what I want. I won’t be told no by some little bitch that thinks she’s too good for me,” he hissed.
I flinched away from him and he leaned in closer. I could smell his aftershave and the wine he’d had at dinner.
“Come with me, love. There’s something I want you to see.”
He forced me to leave the ballroom. I followed him through his darkened home, thinking of his threats to Quinten and my family. Would he really kill everyone I cared about just to force my hand? If he did, it would prove to the world that he was truly mad.
He descended a flight of stairs, and I had no choice but to follow him. As much as I desperately wanted to run away and never look back, I couldn’t risk letting him hurt anyone I loved.
*****
I followed Roger down into a dark basement that ran the entire length of his mansion. There were no bright lights or chandeliers here. Instead, it was dark, wet, moldy, and freezing cold. It was strange to think that less than an hour ago I’d been dancing with my best friend, and he’d been about to ask me to be his mate. And now I was standing in a dark cellar with a man I hated more than anyone else on this planet.
It was almost funny to think about how quickly things could change from wonderful to awful.
The cellar was divided into different small sections. Roger stopped us at the first one and, for a moment, I was afraid I was going to be physically sick at what I was being forced to witness.
Inside the small room was a large steel table, on which a naked boy was strapped down. He was skinny and dirty, with long, reddish brown hair, and the palest skin I’d ever seen. He looked to be about eighteen years old, but it was impossible to tell for sure.
His face was thin and had a gaunt, hollowed-out look. His large hazel-colored eyes were haunted, and I could see that his body was covered in bruises and cuts.
“Hello, Darren. How are we doing today?” Roger asked cheerfully, stopping near the boy’s head.
The boy didn’t answer; he just moaned once and his eyes closed and his head lolled to the side.
“Hmm, he must be tired,” Roger muttered, looking at him with false concern. “Oh! Where are my manners? Alanna, this is Darren West. Darren, I know you can’t hear me right now, but this is Alanna Moore. She’s going to be my future mate. Isn’t that wonderful?”
I cringed at the word mate, which sounded so disgusting in his mouth, and looked away.
“Alanna, my love, don’t you want to know what he’s doing here in my basement?”
I forced myself to look at Roger without flinching, but I refused to speak to him.
“I’ll tell you anyways. Darren, and a few other residents of my dungeons here, is my dirty little secret. You see, Darren is a vampire. A very special type of vampire. He’s a dhampir.”
I’d heard that word before, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it meant.
Roger smiled. “It means that his mother was a human woman, who’d been impregnated by a vampire. When Darren was born, he burst from his mother’s womb, and she bled to death. Darren is one of quite a few dhampirs I’ve collected over the years. I found him wandering the streets of Chicago when he was twelve, and I brought him here.
“That was almost fifteen years ago. He hasn’t aged a day since reaching maturity, just like a vampire. He’s even got a venomous bite, just like his father. Of course, he has his mother’s eyes…”
I stared at Roger, more revolted than I’d ever been before. “You’re torturing him just because he’s part vampire?”
I was surprised that a vampire could even reproduce, but treating him like garbage, torturing him just because he was part vampire, was horrible.
“You’re a monster.”
He sighed. “Alanna, you wouldn’t want your precious Quinten to end up in here, would you?”
I looked around. Hung up on the walls were various whips, chains, knives, and other painful looking devices. Another glance at Darren’s broken body made me realize that I would do anything to keep Quinten, Ray, Ilene, and Jax from ever spending one moment in these rooms.
Roger tapped Darren’s chest, and his eyes fluttered open. He moaned again. “Darren, I’m going to go and have a word with your friend. I’ll leave the two of you to get to know one another,” he said with a cheerful smile.
Roger turned and signaled to a man dressed in all black. He held a whip in his hands, and there was an assortment of knives hanging on his thick belt. I noticed that each one was covered in blood; some of it was new, but a lot of it was old.
“Who are you?”
The voice was so weak, and terrified, that it brought tears to my eyes.
“My name is Alanna.”
“Why are you here?”
“Roger is threatening my family if I refuse to be his mate.”
“That sounds like him,” Darren said, struggling to lift his head.
I moved to his side, placed my hands under his head, and lifted as far as I could. There were straps belted around his torso and legs, so he couldn’t go far, but it would do.
“Water,” he croaked.
I reached behind me, where a bowl of water was sitting on a dirty table. There was a ladle inside, and I dripped some into Darren’s open mouth. I filled and refilled the ladle again. I was giving him so much water I was worried that he’d be sick.
Finally, he stopped drinking, and he settled back against the metal table.
“Do you need anything else?”
He shook his head. “There’s nothing here that you can give me.”
“How long have you been strapped to this table?” I asked.
“A few hours. Normally I get locked in a small cell, until he wants
to see me. Then I’m strapped to this thing.”
“Have you really been here for the last fifteen years?”
Darren nodded miserably. He stared up at me, with eyes so pained that I wanted to reach out and comfort him, never mind the fact that he was part vampire.
“I’m so sorry.”
He frowned. “Don’t worry about it too much. I’ve learned to block most of the pain. I don’t really feel it anymore, unless he decides to get really nasty.”
“You shouldn’t have to live like this.”
“I’m a monster; I have no right to expect anything else.”
“You’re not a monster,” I said, unsure how I knew that. “I’m going to find a way to get you out of here, I promise.”
He chuckled weakly. “Right.”
Roger came back over. “Well, my love? Do you have an answer for me?”
I felt empty, and horribly lost. There was no way out of this. Roger had me cornered, and he knew it. All I needed was a few minutes alone with Darren to help me decide.
Roger smiled, sensing my inner thoughts. “Come now, love, being my mate won’t be so bad. Look at my home; I can give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of. We’ll have lavish feasts and elegant parties. And some day, we’ll have children that will always have the best of the best. You’ll see.”
I looked at him, and around at the horrible room again, before bursting into wild tears.
I turned and fled back up the stairs. When I got to the foyer, I bumped into someone and looked up at Ray through watery tear-filled eyes. “We have to get out of here, now.”
Quinten and Jax were standing with Ilene. All three were looking at me. “What’s wrong?” Jax asked, taking a step forward. He’d been a werewolf for almost five years, and had spent quite a bit of time protecting me when I was younger.
“Please, I’ll explain later. We have to get as far from here as possible.”
Ray nodded and wrapped his jacket around my shoulders. Ilene sat up front with Ray, and Jax was crammed into the backseat with us. I thought about Darren again, trapped forever in the dungeon, forced to endure torture after torture, with no relief in sight.
I couldn’t let that happen to anyone else.
Could I really be Roger’s mate? Even if it kept everyone I loved safe?
I shuddered, and pressed my forehead against the cool window. What am I going to do?
*****
A little while later the five of us were sitting in the living room. I’d taken off the dress Roger had bought me, and thrown it in the corner, refusing to look at it ever again. Ray made me a cup of hot chocolate, just like when I was younger. I took a sip of it and sighed gratefully.
“Kiddo, what happened when Roger took you away from the rest of the party? Did he hurt you in any way?” Ray asked, putting his arm protectively around my shoulders.
I sniffed, and wiped my nose. “No, he didn’t hurt me.”
“Alanna?” Jax asked tentatively.
I took a deep breath. “He has a dungeon beneath his mansion. In it, he’s got torture rooms filled with dhampirs. They’re people that are half-human and half-vampire. He has people that spend all day torturing them just because they’re part vampire.”
Ray frowned. “I didn’t think that vampires could reproduce.”
“I didn’t either,” I said, taking another sip of the warm rich chocolate drink. I was hoping it would stop the trembling in my hands.
“What did Roger say to you while you two were down there? It’s ok kiddo, you can tell us.”
I looked at Quinten, who was making sure to keep his face turned as far away from me as possible. Ray frowned, looking back and forth at both of us. “Is this about the conversation Quinten and I had yesterday in my study?”
I nodded, and hiccupped once. “He told me that if I refused to be his mate, he’d make sure that each of you ended up in one of those torture rooms.”
Jax’s hands clenched and he looked ready to hit something. “How can he do that? It’s blackmail!”
“Roger has more power than any one werewolf should.”
“Why?” I asked, looking at Ray. “I thought he was just a farmer or something from the sixteen hundreds.”
“Almost a hundred and fifty years ago, during the Civil War, another war broke out in the west. The territory hadn’t been explored by humans yet, but werewolves and vampires had made it their home for years. Roger was the commanding general of the werewolf’s army. He and his troops defeated the vampires, and he was greatly rewarded because of it.”
“So he’s rich, powerful, and well-respected. How can I possibly think of turning him down, knowing that he’ll do to all of you?”
Ilene frowned. “So just don’t turn him down.”
I gaped at her. “What? You expect me to just willing mate with that monster?”
“Alanna, you just said it. He’s rich, powerful, and well-respected. He’s a war hero, with a mansion, and support from every werewolf that holds any power whatsoever. You could definitely do worse,” she said, her gaze flicking over to where Quinten sat.
I glared at her. “You’re joking, right? I’d rather die than willingly be Roger Mason’s mate. He’s an evil monster through and through. There isn’t an ounce of good anywhere in him.”
“It’s not like you’ve gotten any better offers though, right? Why not just tell him yes now? You could always back out later if you really wanted to. Though I don’t know why you would.”
“Ilene!” Ray snapped. “Have you not heard a single word that’s been said? Roger is keeping people in his dungeons. He’s torturing them and he threatened to do the same to us if she refuses him.”
Ilene huffed and settled back against the chair she was seated in. “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal. They’re just vampires.”
“Ilene, they’re still part human,” I whispered, shocked that she could have such little regard for human life. “How can you condemn an innocent person to a lifetime of pain and misery?”
“They don’t sound so innocent. I’m sure Roger has his reasons for treating them the way he does. And if it really bothers you that much, tell him that you’ll become his mate on the condition that he let them go. Though, I’d feel safer knowing they were locked away in his dungeons than free to roam the lands killing whoever they want.”
“What is the matter with you?”
She glared at us. “They’re monsters, and he’s actually doing something about them. Do you want me to lie and say that I disagree with what he’s doing? Because I don’t. I’m glad he’s keeping those monster locked up. He should be commended for what he’s doing, not talked about behind his back.”
She got up and slammed our bedroom door closed behind her. It was times like this I wished that we’d gotten a larger, nicer house than the one we lived in. Ilene had refused to leave the home our mother had lived in, so we were forced to stay here in this cramped house, even though Ray could afford much better.
“Well, it looks like I’m sleeping on the couch tonight,” I said, finishing the glass of hot chocolate.
Ray frowned. “Nonsense. Take my bed.”
“Dad, its fine. I just want to get some sleep. Maybe a solution will present itself in the morning.”
“Uncle Ray? Do you have an extra blanket and pillow? If it’s alright with you I’m gonna crash on the floor tonight.”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. Quinten, I’ll take you home, or you can stay the night if you wish. I’d feel better if you stayed though.”
Quinten sighed and I reached over and put my hand on his shoulder. “Roger’s not above hurting you to get to me. Please, stay at least tonight. I don’t want to have to worry about you.”
He nodded once, and Ray went to find extra blankets and pillows. While everyone was getting ready for bed, I noticed Jax eyeing me. His gaze kept moving from me to Quinten and back to me again. Had he guessed what Quinten had been about to ask me tonight?
Quinten spread hims
elf out on the living room floor, and I slid off the couch. I motioned for Jax to take it, and dropped to the floor with Quinten. He jumped when I curled up next to his side, but he didn’t move away.
With a sigh, he put his arm around my waist, and he pulled me closer. Even if Quinten and I never became mates, there was no doubting that some part of me loved him…
*****
In the morning, Jax drove Ilene to school. Frankly, I was glad to see her go. She refused to so much as make eye contact with anyone in the house, and I wondered just how far gone she really was.
Something about her behavior last night had bugged me, and I wasn’t sure if anyone else had caught it. It seemed, when she was talking about Roger, that she was almost jealous that he was interested in me. Ilene was only fourteen years old. That was too young to be thinking about a mate, right?
I hadn’t even given it a passing thought until I was about sixteen. I definitely hadn’t been thinking about it seriously until last night. Even now I wasn’t sure I was ready to share my body, heart, and soul with another person.
If it was Quinten…
I sighed and he mumbled something. I looked over at him, still sleeping peacefully, and I smiled. He was handsome, loyal, smart, brave, and the best friend I’d ever had. Could I spend the rest of my life with him?
It won’t be the rest of my life though.
Quinten was human and he didn’t have werewolf genes anywhere in his family. He’d continue to age until the day he died. Where would that leave me then? Ray had been willing to spend the rest of his life with a human woman, and it had turned out badly for him.
Humans weren’t the most stable people; they tended to change their minds easily. That’s why mom had left so many times and, even though she always came back, I wondered if it was only because she couldn’t make it on her own. If Quinten had feelings for me now, how long could that possibly last? Surely some of those feelings would change?
Even if they didn’t, we could only have sixty years or so together before he died.
What if they were sixty wonderful years?
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